After Deadly Cop Incident, Re-examining NYC's Pro-Taser Study

A Brooklyn man died this week after falling off a 10-foot-high ledge. Inman Morales was naked and had been swinging a fluorescent light bulb, according to police reports, but (gruesome) eyewitness video shows that he fell to his death only after New York City police officer Nicholas Marchesona shot him with a Taser gun. (Marchesona has since been placed on desk duty for an apparent violation of department guidelines.) The strange incident has drawn attention to the NYPD's decision this summer to have more officers carry the electroshock weapons, generically called Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs).

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

New York made the move in the wake of another high-profile death involving the NYPD--when officers shot and killed Sean Bell in Queens in 2006. After Bell died in a hail of bullets, the city commissioned a study of police officers' firearm usage and training by nonprofit research institute the RAND Corporation (pdf). In addition to calling for more training to stop "reflexive shooting"--when officers starting firing because they hear gunshots--the study, which was commissioned in early 2007 but released in June to little fanfare, strongly recommended that the NYPD move cautiously toward adopting more CED technology.

More From Popular Mechanics

Even following a U.N. declaration that Taser's products amount to torture devices, Taser has become a major client for thousands of other law-enforcement agencies worldwide that want fewer officers firing guns (though the company's new headcams may be more popular than its shotgun-like projectile). But while being tased is preferable to getting shot, it's extremely painful and, in some cases, fatal.

Because solid, peer-reviewed data about how different police departments use Tasers is lacking, it's difficult to weigh CEDs' effectiveness against their potential danger. So RAND relied on "less rigorous, anecdotal data" to reach its conclusion that CEDs do indeed reduce the use of deadly force by police officers. Greg Ridgeway, the acting director of RAND's Safety and Justice Program, cited Cincinnati as an example when we spoke with him yesterday. The city had no CEDs until 2003 and then put them in the hands of all its cops. After that, Ridgeway said, use of other force, like batons, guns and spray sank almost to zero. "They don't shoot anyone anymore," he said. "They do use their Tasers a lot."

The NYPD has used Tasers for more than two decades, but until this summer the shockers were only in the hands of the Emergency Service Unit, and a few sergeants who carried them in their cars. This year, the department authorized thousands of sergeants to carry Tasers in their holsters. Ridgeway stressed to PM that Tasers could be great for law enforcement with the right training: Officers have to be able to distinguish the right and wrong times to Tase. "In almost all situations where things get weird, there's not a sergeant on hand." But at the end of the day, he notes, "New York actually has limited use" of Tasers, comparatively. "We want to put them in more hands."

Here are a few key passages from RAND's report that help explain New York's expanded CED use and some of its potential problems. Are more Tasers for officers a good thing? Let us know in the comments section below.

* "In truth, the use of a CED may be a more appropriate alternative to the use of physical force or the drawing of a weapon and can stop an incident from progressing toward the use of deadly force."

* "The Minneapolis Civilian Police Review Authority recommended that Tasers be placed on the use-of-force continuum at or above the level of a closed hand strike; however, the policy should allow for a flexible threshold for Taser use, depending on officer size and stature, suspect size and stature, and other elements on the scene. The policy should note that evidence suggests that Tasers may cause burning and scarring, and they may be harmful or fatal in rare instances. Tasers should be viewed as an extraordinary use of force."

* "There is a lack of consensus in the development and application of policies relating to Taser training and use. Variation in policy and training and the substitution of Tasers for other technologies across the use-of-force continuum, result in operational inconsistency."

* "ACLU Nebraska [(and others)] have expressed concern that CEDs may be inappropriately used, and clearly there are cases in which that has happened. Generally, these are cases in which multiple CEDs were fired or in which CEDs are not used as a standoff weapon but rather as a stun gun and, particularly, on suspects already restrained. This was the case in New York City in 1985: Officers used stun guns on suspects already in custody, creating in that city a negative attitude that still lingers."

* "A survey of law-enforcement agencies found that the vast majority issue CEDs to both front-line officers and supervisors. Only 3 percent of reporting agencies required supervisory approval prior to CED deployment. Only 4 percent required that a supervisor respond to the scene before a CED could be used, although many agencies require a supervisor to respond after a CED deployment. Several agencies noted that the spontaneity and quick escalation of incidents usually precluded significant supervisory participation prior to deployment."